| Summary: | Pacific salmon are culturally and economically important species to Southeast Alaska, where there is a history of large wild runs and supplemental production from hatchery programs. Salmon management in Alaska is divided amongst various governmental agencies. Non-governmental organizations also play a pivotal role in salmon management. To fulfill the requirements of a Professional Science Masters of Fisheries and Wildlife Administration, my internship was designed to engage professionals from several organizations involved in salmon management in Southeast Alaska. Portions of my internship were spent with professionals at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, members of the Alaska delegation of the Pacific Salmon Commission, Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, and the United States Forest Service. My internship deliverables included an internship journal, an outreach presentation at Ketchikan High School centered on salmon management in Southeast Alaska, and a final report. During my examination of salmon management policy in Southeast Alaska I extracted many policy lessons learned. These lessons included: (1) fisheries management is often less about the science and more about the stakeholders; (2) management must be based on consistent objectives and reasoning because decisions will be challenged; (3) science is more frequently debated than relevant personal experience; (4) science is one of the many inputs to management, a fact often overlooked by early career fisheries staff; (5) allocation, the distribution of costs and benefits among stakeholders, is central to fisheries policy debates; and (6) salmon management cannot be fully understood without exploring the history and politics of funding.
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